Uncle by blood but family by choice
by Jaylynn5
Summary: When Xander is hurt, a gift from the past is just the thing to help him on a new path with a family that actually cares for him
1. Chapter 1

Title:Uncle by blood, family by choice.

Author:Jaylynn

Pairing: None currently but will probably change in the future since my muse keeps flipfloping between two.

Disclaimer: Buffy stuff belongs to Joss, Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

I'm also kinda screwing with the timeline some since I want Xander younger, so Buffy came a year earlier making Xander have a year of dealing with the strangeness that her arrival brought. Other changes to the timeline can and will pop up as I go along.

bCHAPTER ONE -Prologue- /b

After finding out the existence of the things that go bump, Xander would have given money on the odds that he was going to die on some vamps fangs, just like Jesse. It really came to no surprise to him that he was wrong, hell he was used to it growing up with a best friend like Willow. He just wished it didn't hurt so much this time.

Curled up in a fetal position, Xander tried not thinking about his mother's limp form laying not two feet away or the fact it was his father that seemed so determined to be the one to send him to an early grave, no instead Xander thought of the only family he actually liked, his uncle. Not the loser that was his uncle Rory, but his mother's brother, someone who actually treated him like family was supposed to.

He remembered the times his uncle would visit when he was younger and he'd always have some small gift for him, even if it was just a book. Xander wasn't any more studious back then as he was now, but he loved those books because they were from his favorite uncle, and not wanting to disappoint him Xander would read them cover to cover several times until he had them memorized. That way when the next time his uncle came to visit and asked about what he learned, he could actually discuss it with him. Willow would have been so proud if she knew, but he never told her about it and he hid his books and only read them when he knew his father was out of the house for fear he'd do something to them.

Xander's arm brushed against the silver pendant his uncle had given him when he was younger. He'd been told if he was ever hurt or in danger for his life, he just had to have the pendant on him and say his uncle's full name and he would be safe. He'd worn it every day for a year, before Larry had started making fun of him for wearing something so girly like a necklace. After that, Xander had put it away and pretty much forgotten it until just about a week after Jesse had been killed.  
At the time he had started wearing it under his clothes to help him connect with someone who cared for him. The lose of Jesse had hit him hard and Willow seemed to just want to forget, so the pendant was almost a life line for him and helped him to carry on. He didn't think there was anything magical with it at the time but now he was having second and third thoughts since it was radiating way too much heat to be mundane.

Hope was building as he slowly grasped the nearly hot pendant in his bloodied and broken hands and whispered through bloody lips his uncle's name...

The one and only Severus Snape.

b End chapter one/b

Reviews are loved and can help inspire my muse, the fickle thing that she is, but seriously tell me what you think. I could also really use a beta since I try but I don't seem to catch grammar errors very well and there is only so much spell check can do. I have the next few chapters already written but plan to go over them again before I transfer them over to here.


	2. Chapter 2

Title:Uncle by blood, family by choice.

Author:Jaylynn

Pairing: None currently but will probably change in the future since my muse keeps flipfloping between two.

Disclaimer: Buffy stuff belongs to Joss, Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.

A.N. A change to cannon I noticed while I was editing this, books 6 and probably 7 didn't happen. Mostly because Sev is still teaching potions and no creator of the Slug Club will be in the school ...which means I need to figure out who will be teaching DADA. So make some suggestions and who knows it might just make it in there.

Chapter 2  
It was like any other fifth year potions class that Ginny Weasley had been to since the start of the school year and she didn't really expect anything to change that. Unless her brother and his friends were involved, there wasn't much excitement for her year, not counting her first year. She shivered at the thought of her first year and Tom Riddle's diary, causing Luna to send a worried glance her way. Giving her best friend a reassuring smile she tried to pay attention to what Snape was saying, not wanting to give him more of an excuse to be a jerk to her. Being a Griff and a Weasley was more than enough, not to mention friends with Harry.

She was writing down a few notes so she would remember them when they started brewing when several of her classmates let out terrified screams. Her eyes snapped up to see what was going on, her hand already clutching her wand just in case. The first thing she noticed was how pale Professor Snape had gotten, which was a feat in itself since he was so pale to start off with, but then her eyes found what had caused the screams. Somehow someone had got through the wards that protected the school from people trying to apperate and portkey in. Taking in his beaten and bloody form, Ginny didn't think it was an attack, especially since Snape was now crouched down next to the body and his face showed more emotion than most believed him capable of. There was general fear and worry on his face and Ginny's heart went out to her professor for the first time. He may be a bastard but whoever that was lying on the ground, it was someone he cared for.

Professor Snape still looked like he was in shock of some kind and Ginny could tell the person on the ground needed medical help badly so she did something that hopefully didn't backfire once he was back to himself. Pointing at her classmates, Ginny started ordering them to get Madame Pomphrey and Professor Dumbledore before kneeling on the opposite side of the broken figure, placing the back of her hand to his forehead Ginny frowned biting her lip in worry.

"Professor, we have to get him stabilized until Madame Popmhrey gets here, stop him from bleeding out too much. Can you cast a blood clotting charm on him while I get his body temperature up?"

Ginny's words seemed to snap him out of his trance and he nodded and started to apply the charms. Ginny gave a deep breath as she went over the medical spell she was learning to be prepared in case the war got worse. Finally she remembered the one she needed and quickly cast it, allowing the magic to regulate his body heat to normal. Within a few minutes color had returned to the boys cheeks, and he was a boy, she'd been a little surprised to see he looked about her age maybe a little older, but she put that at the back of her mind to go over when it wasn't an emergency and his breathing seemed a little easier.

His eyes fluttered and even though it looked to be painful to do so, the dark haired boy opened his eyes, his unfocused eyes landing on Professor Snape. Ginny noticed he seemed to relax once he recognized the Potions Master.

His voice was a little slurred, "Uncle Sev... It wor... so tired."

'Did he say Uncle?' Ginny was shocked but she didn't have much time to think about it since Pomphrey had just arrived, shouting orders and taking control of the situation. Ginny quickly got out of the way and watched helplessly from the side. Getting one last look at the Professor's face as the beaten boy was taken away, she knew one thing at least; whoever hurt him was going to be in a world of hurt if the Potions Master had any say in it.

A.N. So someone mentioned before that Snape is a spy and should be faster to act, but I am going with this time is different. Normally he is dealing with people he cares very little for and can easily push his emotions to the side but now he is dealing with someone he cares for more than anyone else alive and they showed up out of the blue and is severely hurt and it shocked him enough that his rather rusty emotions overwhelmed him.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to GinaStar for reviewing and the 11 people who are following this, it means a lot that people like this enough to review or follow it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Title:**Uncle by blood, family by choice.  
**Author:**Jaylynn (Aim: Jaylynwolf)  
**Pairing:** None currently but will probably change in the future since my muse keeps flipfloping between two.  
**Disclaimer:** Buffy stuff belongs to Joss, Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
**A.N.** Just wanted to thank everyone who followed this story or reviewed. Just a reminder Buffy came a year early and everthing that happened in season 1 was set in Xander's freshman year now. As for when this is set, it's the beginning of his sophomore year right now.

**Chapter 3**

Severus Snape was not a kind person and he never claimed to be. He couldn't stand most people and disliked having to deal with the ignorant masses he had to teach the art of potions to. There were, however, exceptions and his nephew was one of them. He had always tried to take care of his younger squib sister and to protect her from their abusive father. At first he had been glad she had married and gotten away from their father but that was until he realised Harris was just like Tobias Snape. Severus never knew what Jessica saw in the man but no matter what he said she refused to leave the man. When his nephew had been born he had doubled his efforts to get her to leave and come move in with him, only stopping when he was threatened with never being allowed to see the boy again. So he bit his tongue, and timed his visits so he had the least amount of exposure to Harris as he could get. Being sent to Azkaban for murder wasn't on his list of things he wanted to do and spending time with that disgrace of a human being was a sure way to make it happen.

He knew his nephew hadn't believed him when he had given him the pendant, telling him how to activate the emergency portkey but he had hoped that if he was ever in a desperate enough situation he would have at least attempt it. Thank Merlin he did, because if he hadn't Severus doubted his nephew would have been long for the world otherwise. Not to mention he now owed the girl-Wesley for taking control like she had. You would think so many years as a spy would have made him a little quicker on the uptake. He blamed his less than stellar reactions on the fact that it wasn't some stranger or persons he barely cared about lying on the ground but in fact one of the few people he cared more about than himself. To see his nephew, the boy he thought of as a son, lying bloody and beaten on the ground had shocked him.

Taking a calming breath, Severus pushed open the door leading to the medical wing, the potions he knew were safe for muggles to consume clutched tightly in his fists. He stopped short when he saw several empty bottles of potions he new were poisonous if you were not magical laying on a tray table next to his nephew and Pomphrey force feeding him another. Rushing forward, Severus grabbed the bottle from her, preventing her from poisoning his nephew any more.

"Damn it Woman! What the hell are you thinking! He's not magical, that's why I said to wait until I went to get a few potions and not to give him anything until I got back! NOW YOU BLOODY WELL POISONED HIM!"

Poppy Pomphrey got a pinched look to her face and you could tell she was angry but then again so was the potions master so maybe it was only fair, "Severus Snape! Do you take me for a fool? I know very well what I can and can not give a muggle. Good thing this boy is as much of a muggle as you or any other pureblood around this school is. Now if you don't mind, I need to get back to my job to insure the poor boy will live." Poppy said as she snatched the potion back from Severus and went back to caring for her patient.

_'He's not a squib? Why wasn't he going to one of the magical schools?'_ Severus' thoughts were swirling fast in his mind as he leaned against a wall to support himself. He had been very disappointed when Alexander hadn't received an invitation to one of the magical schools. It hadn't changed how much he cared for him but a little part of him always wished things could have been different. Having no children of his own, he had sort of put his hopes in his nephew to follow in his footsteps and become a potions master. It wasn't like the boy didn't know the steps and ingredients. Severus had made sure he did, writing books for his age that would teach him about potions but still keep his interest. Not to mention making them fit under the statue of secrecy and having them read as fictional children's books.

Severus snorted as he thought, Merlin help him but his nephew was not the studious type, but he never complained when he'd received a new book from him and was always so eager to show off what he had learned from the last one. It was times like that, when his nephew was so eager to get just a scrap of affection from an uncle he only saw a few times a year that made it hard for him to not grab him up and take him away with him. If it hadn't been for the dark mark on his arm and the threat of Voldimort returning, Severus had a feeling he would have done it any way consequences be damned.

Looking toward the bed with his nephew in it, he sighed in relief when he saw his nephew was stable. He still looked like he went a few rounds with an angry hippogriff but by the look on Poppy's face, he would live. Eyes narrowing on a particular hand shaped bruise on his nephews arm that had yet to fade even with the amount of Bruise-be-gone he had been given, Severus straitened up from where he had been leaning on the wall and nodded towards Poppy.

"If you are no longer in need of my services," he ignored the healers snort and continued on, "I think it's time to look into what exactly happened to my nephew"

Poppy noticed where Severus eyes had focused on and she was almost sorry for the person that would soon come to his attention. Looking down at the poor boy in her hospital bed that should be worried about classes and not surviving a beating, the 'almost' never turned into actually being sorry for them, since in her mind hurting a child was one of the worst things you could do.

Seeing the Potions master about to walk out, "Severus, if you ever do something like that again while I'm working on a patient, the next time you come though those doors for some treatment or care, you better be prepared for some of the most disgusting and painful preventive care I know, and believe me sir, I know a lot of things that will make you very healthy even if the treatment makes you think it's going to kill you first. Oh and Severus, do make sure my patient will have no additional relapses that will bring him back to me or worse. I don't like to have my work wasted."

Severus had been walking to the doors about to leave when Poppy had spoken, he had stilled at the threat, for being such a caring witch, he had no doubt she would go though with it. It also didn't surprise him she figured out what he would do to the person who had hurt his nephew so badly, nor the fact she was so protective of one of her patients that she wanted that threat removed. Nodding his understanding, Severus continued his departure, only stopping to grab a few things from his room and sending a letter to the Albus explaining where he was going and needing to cancel classes for the day before leaving the castle grounds and activating a portkey that would take him to just outside of Sunnydale, where he had a few things to look into and take care of.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**Title:**Uncle by blood, family by choice.  
**Author:**Jaylynn  
**Pairing:** None currently but will probably change in the future since my muse keeps flipfloping between two or more. Don't be afraid to make a suggestion/vote for who you would like to see paired with Xander, it could amuse my muse enough to do it. I don't plan to do a slash pairing for this story but if there is enough interest one way or another I can be persuaded either way, so let me know what you guys that are following this want. Reviewing just to say 'no slash please' counts for a vote even if you don't care about the particular person.  
**Disclaimer:** Buffy stuff belongs to Joss, Harry Potter stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
**A.N.**

**Chapter 4**

Severus let a disgusted sneer settle on his face as he took in the picturesque setting Sunnydale provided. If you didn't know any better all you would see was a happy little town that had the comforts of a big city but with a small town feel and very reasonable prices for houses and new business. That saying about things being too good to be true flashed across Severus mind causing him to snort. Of course there was a reason for such low prices, the current owners kept getting killed or turned up missing. How else would you get people to turn a blind eye to the high death toll or the number of missing people. People could be blind to things they should worry about if they could focused on the amazing deal they got instead, and if once they got there and things weren't what they appeared to be? Oh well, they either learned to be a little eccentric and not go out at night or soon some other sucker...er lucky customer got a new great deal. It's not like the realtors had to disclose what happened to the previous owners and no one in Sunnydale was going to say anything.

As the scenery flew passed the taxi window, that he was forced to use, Severus wished it was safe for him to use other more magical means to travel but the damn portal, that warped everything around it, made that unwise. Only in a true emergency would he even attempt it and even then never with a portkey he made himself. Only two, maybe three if he was being generous, had the power to make a portkey that could power through the hellmouth's influence safely. Severus gave an undignified snort, completely ignoring the look the taxi driver gave him. Potter certainly had more power than he knew what to do with but he lacked the brain power or ambition to put it to use. The Potion Master put most of the credit for the boys survival of the last few years on the shoulder's of the Granger chit and on pure dumb luck.

Thinking of portkeys brought his mind back to his nephew. He was never so thankful to Albus as he was right now. When he had asked for an emergency portkey for his nephew all those years back he had never thought it would be used, but it had and he now owed Albus for the life of the only family he had left. Well, the only family he actually counted anyway. He still loved his sister but over the years he had given up hope that they would ever be a true family again.

At last they arrived at his destination, and after paying the driver he stepped out of the taxi. Not surprisingly it sped away like the hounds of hell were chasing him and in this town that might not have been too far from the truth. Walking up the path to the front door, Severus found the door slightly open. Pulling out his wand, he pushed the door open carefully, ready in case something was on the other side just waiting to attack. It swung open easily, showing only an empty house but Severus wasn't taking any chances and entered slowly taking in his surroundings, ready for any sort of attack.

The living room was clear, but as soon as he hit the entry for the kitchen the coppery scent of blood hit him. Prepared for an attack, Severus made his way inside. It was empty or so he thought. Walking further in, he stepped passed the kitchen table and there slumped against the wall was a body. Before making sure he wouldn't be attacked once he let down his defenses, Severus knelt down next to the broken body of his sister. He was sure she was gone from the world as broken as she looked but when he checked for a heartbeat he found one. It was so faint it was almost nonexistent but it was there and that was all a potion master needed especially as good of one as he was. Now in a hurry, Severus pulled bottle after bottle from a special pocket in his robe, quickly finding the ones he had that would be safe to a muggle. Gently prying Jessica's mouth open he began force feeding her the potions. It wouldn't heal her instantly like some of the potions he had for wizards or witches but if he wasn't too late it just might be enough to keep his sister in the land of the living until he could get her to a hospital.

Finally satisfied that he gave her everything that would help and not hurt her, Severus scooped her up, being as careful as he could, and headed out of the house. There wasn't any point trying to call for an ambulance since it was unlikely to show up until morning, same with the local aurors or whatever the muggle equivalent was called. He knew they didn't live that far from the hospital anyway and after risking a quick point me spell, they were on their way. Even with the strong scent of blood, Severus luckily did not run into any of Sunnydale's usual trouble makers. Of course that was probably due more to the aura he gave off than luck. It was dark, powerful and angry and any minion worth his dust was going to go for easier prey and not tangle with something like that and in this town easy prey isn't that hard to find.

Once he reached the hospital, he was able to drop off his sister with surprisingly few questions being asked once he had explained that he had found her like this after getting a warning from his nephew. After all, Xander showing up unconscious was a warning, just not the verbal one he was making it out to sound like. The nurses had exchanged a few looks and took things from there. He was almost rushed out the door but Severus was fine with that, more than fine actually. He had things to do and people to find. It may not have been his deadbeat of a brother in law that had been to blame for the condition of his nephew and sister but his instincts were pointing in that direction and over the years he had learned to trust them. If it turned out it wasn't him, well, at least he got to take out some of his aggression before he went in search for the actual person responsible, but either way Severus was going to get a little revenge before the night was through.


End file.
